Purpose: Previous studies assessed the associations between Helicobacter pylori infection and open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and produced inconsistent results. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of H. pylori infection on OAG risk.
Methods: Relevant studies that reported the associations between H. pylori infection and OAG were identified through an extensive search of the Exerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Web of Science, and PubMed databases in English and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP, and Wan Fang databases in Chinese, and by reviewing the reference lists of the key articles. The summary odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using the random-effects model.
Results: This meta-analysis involved 695 glaucoma patients and 1580 control individuals. The overall combined ORs showed a significant correlation between H. pylori infection and OAG (OR = 2.08, 95% CI = 1.42-3.04). The subgroup analysis showed the association of H. pylori infection with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG; OR = 3.06, 95% CI = 1.27-2.46) and normal tension glaucoma (NTG; OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.76-5.34), but not with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXFG; OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 0.40-5.30).
Conclusions: The result of this meta-analysis suggested a statistically significant association between H. pylori infection and OAG. Further analysis showed that this positive relation is observed only in POAG and NTG patients, but not in the PXFG patients.